Former Raiders LB Harris backs Callahan

January 24, 2013|Tribune report

Napoleon Harris was a linebacker on the Raiders' Super Bowl team in 2003. (AP File Photo)

Former Northwestern linebacker Napoleon Harris played on the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVIII under Bill Callahan, who is facing allegations that he tried to "sabotage" his team by changing the game plan two days before the game.

On Thursday, Harris came to the defense of Callahan, whose Raiders lost that Super Bowl in 2003 by a lopsided score of 48-21 to Jon Gruden's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The allegations came from former Raiders receiver Tim Brown, who said, "We all called it sabotage ... because Callahan and Gruden were good friends" in an interview on Sirius-XM NFL radio.

“To be honest, I was actually shocked," Harris, now a member of the Illinois State Senate from the 15th District, said of the allegations during an interview on "The McNeil and Spiegel Show" on WSCR-AM 670. "I know a lot of guys put a lot of heart and soul and a lot of hard work ... when you talk about the Super Bowl, the biggest game, the biggest spectacle on earth. To say that one guy sabotaged the efforts of 53 men, I don’t really think that’s a fair assessment of what happened. It just happens to be that we went against a good team and former coach Jon Gruden had all the calls and they just beat us.”

Brown questioned Callahan’s relationship with Gruden when discussing the Raiders’ changeup from a mostly run-heavy game plan to a pass-heavy game plan. Harris attributes the change in strategy to the loss of center Barrett Robbins, who went AWOL two days before the game, and the fact the Raiders fell behind early.

“I remember some chatter about game-planning adjustments and changes but I believe a lot had to do with the absence of our Pro Bowl center, Barrett Robbins," Harris said. "We had a game plan to run the ball a lot more but you know, those things change once you get behind in the football game. I think early on in the first half we kept things somewhat close and then once you have the turnovers we had and the other team gets ahead of you, you can’t run the ball because it runs the clock and the clock is against you so you have to throw the ball.”

Harris said he thinks Brown will come to regret his comments.

“Once he goes back and reflects on it, I believe that Tim Brown will come to really see that Bill Callahan did not sabotage the game and that it was just, that day was like they say, ‘On any given Sunday’, that you can be beat," Harris said. "I mean, we had a No. 1 offense in the league and a top defense and it just so happens that Tampa played better on that Sunday.”